Hatters survive classic shootout

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, October 16, 2008

Davis was asked what he was thinking when his team left 50 seconds on the game clock after scoring to take a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

"I hoped," Davis said seriously, "that we would be able to get the ball back one last time."

Indeed, the way this game was going Stamford could've scored in less than 50 seconds. But the Black Knights' final drive fell 15 yards short when Mitch O'Meara, who threw for four touchdowns and 381 yards, threw an incompletion at the Danbury goal line as time ran out.

Davis' team didn't get the ball back. They didn't need to.

"The fans certainly got their money's worth tonight," Davis said.

Stuart Armstrong ran for four touchdowns and finished with 164 yards rushing while quarterback Ian Ratchford rushed for two scores and passed for another and ended up with 157 yards on the ground for Danbury (3-3). The Hatters finished with 475 yards of total offense (389 rushing on 36 attempts).

Stamford (2-4) was able to keep up with the Hatters for most of the game.

O'Meara was spectacular, throwing for 279 of his 381 yards in the first half when Stamford took a 34-21 lead. He threw three first-half scores to Renard Desir, who had five catches for 104 yards, and a second-half TD to Chris Evans who had 13 catches for 190 yards as the Knights finished with 464 total yards.

"It was like a punch in the face," Stamford head coach Kevin Jones said after watching his team lose a game it probably should have won for the third time in the last five weeks. "Fifty points to Danbury? They�re a good team but . . . are you kidding me? There is nothing positive to say about our defensive effort tonight."

The offense, now that's something else.

"Mitch and Renard and Chris were unbelievable," Jones said. "It's the most passing yards we�ve had since I�ve been here (seven years)."

In addition, tailback Marcus Dixon added 93 yards on the ground. Stamford's other scores came on an 83-yard kickoff return by Carrington Beckford that gave Stamford a 48-43 lead with 4:45 remaining in the game, a two-yard run by Khairi Fortt, and a 10-yard fumble return by Ja'quori Hutchinson.

It was the potent passing game, though, led by O�Meara and Evans, that really impressed the Hatters.

"The problem for us is that those type of athletes like Evans, we can�t simulate them in practice to get a real feel of what they're like," Davis said. "Evans is a tremendous athlete and O�Meara knows exactly where to put the football." O'Meara hit Desir three times for scores in the first half. Forrt's TD and Hutchinson�s fumble return gave the Knights a 13-point halftime lead. The Hatters used three big plays to score in the first half. Armstrong burst through the line for TD runs of 78 and 58 yards, and Ratchford connected with Damian Winters for a 34-yard score.

Danbury used its ball-control offense in the third quarter to take the lead.

Armstrong scored from two yards out to cap a 65-yard, 11-play drive, and then the Hatters went ahead 36-34 when Ratchford snuck over to complete a nine-play, 94 yard march.

But O'Meara and Evans connected on a 27-yard scoring pass and hooked up again on the two-point conversion to give Stamford a 42-36 lead.

A short time later, however, Ratchford went outside and raced 74 yards to make it 43-42.

Beckford�s kick return gave Stamford a 48-43 lead that most folks inside Boyle Stadium figured was just temporary.

And many of them thought the same thing about Danbury's 50-48 advantage after the Hatters moved 70 yards on 12 plays for the go-ahead TD -- a two-yard Armstrong run -- with 50 seconds remaining.

"It was the kind of game that whoever had the ball last was going to win," Davis said.

Well, almost.

The Knights started at their own 45 and O�Meara quickly hit Evans with a 10-yard gain before Evans was pulled down by two defenders at the goal line.

The near touchdown resulted in a 15-yard pass interference penalty on the Hatters leaving the Knights at the Danbury 30. Two more completions brought them to the Danbury 15 with :03 left on the clock. But SHS receiver Chris Godlewski was tripped while lunging for the ball near the goal line -- even Jones admitted it was incidental contact --and after 98 points, 14 touchdowns and 939 yards of offense , this one was finally over.